News about the Canadian government and religion (the kind that doesn't fit the anti-religion narrative)

We live at a time when some people of faith (mostly conservative Christians) view the current government as anti-religion for various reasons. Some of them are worth informed discussion, while others are based on misinformation—often deliberately stoked by groups who benefit from hair-on-fire fear mongering.

 

So it’s nice to offer a different take on news about the Canadian government and religion, starting with an unusual decision by Statistics Canada to break with over 150 years of tradition by asking Canadians about their religious affiliation every five years, not every ten years, starting in 2026.

 

This is a change from how the agency has only asked the question every ten years, since 1871. Now the time span is just five years.

 

The reason for the change is to get a better handle on the rise of the “nones” in Canada; it is expected to go above 40 per cent next year. At the same time, there is a dramatic rise in the number of Canadians who are part of the Muslim, Hindu and Sikh faiths. 

 

That is followed by news about how the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) reached out to faith groups in fall to ask them to talk to their members about measles. As one observer put it, the request shows that the government views faith groups as trustworthy partners when it comes to sharing messages about this outbreak.

 

Read about those stories in my recent Free Press column.